A Case of Obscenity
by T. Z. Townshend
Summary: Molly Hooper is getting married, but not to Sherlock Holmes. Loosely based on "A Case of Identity" from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Rated T to be safe.


**A/N: I don't often write oneshots, but this thing just sort of flowed out of my brain. I hope it isn't too bad. I really like the ACD story that this is based on and I just had to write a Sherlolly version. Enjoy!**

Sherlock knew that Molly was getting married soon. She was getting married and moving away. That did not sit well with him for several reasons, some of which he wasn't even consciously aware of yet. He detested the man she was going to wed, a Mr. Hosmer Angel, who was a temp and an insufferable romantic. Hosmer was a quiet, gentle fellow from what Sherlock could see. The consulting detective had met him twice and the only reason that he hadn't performed a traditional 'Molly's boyfriend character assassination' on either occasion was because Molly had promised him three human hearts if he treated dear Hosmer kindly. Even so, Sherlock found it very difficult to hold up his end of the bargain. Mr. Angel was quite frankly an idiot. He treated Molly like a princess, not an equal, and was prone to performing grand romantic gestures just to impress her with his love and devotion. Sherlock found it disgusting. He knew Molly was only interested in Hosmer because he was like some fairytale prince and he told her so, but it only upset her and got him banned from Bart's for a month.

When Molly finally decided to speak to Sherlock again, he learned that she and Hosmer Angel were engaged and were planning to move to Birmingham. The detective didn't know why, but this upset him more than just the loss of all the benefits he enjoyed at St. Bart's. The idea of her being gone from his life caused a painful ache in his chest that he hated. There was something very wrong about never being able to come to St. Bart's again and see Molly smile and cut up bodies and bring coffee to him. There was something deeply unsettling about Molly being totally devoted to a man who wasn't him. Before she'd started dating again, Sherlock had been the man in her life (not romantically of course, but they'd been close for a pair of socially atypical people) and now Hosmer Angel was taking her away from him. Molly Hooper, the only person who completely loved and accepted him for who was, had finally gotten over him and was now preparing to happily live out the rest of her life in love with someone else. That hurt more than anything he'd ever felt before in his entire thirty four years.

For a while, Sherlock hid his pain, locking it away in the 'rubbish emotions' room of his mind palace, but then the wedding invitations came and it became apparent to John Watson that something was wrong with his best friend. At first, he thought Sherlock was just unhappy that he'd be losing access the morgue. He tried to console the man by saying that he was sure there was another pathologist in London who would be susceptible to his false charms, but that did nothing. When the doctor heard the beautiful, sad violin music coming down the stairs as he went up to 221B, he realized what was going on. Sherlock Holmes was suffering a broken heart.

"Sherlock..." John called tentatively as he came into the flat. The music didn't so much as falter. Either he was being ignored or Sherlock didn't even know he was there. "Sherlock, I can see you're upset. You probably don't want to talk about it, but if you're willing to, I will listen. I want to help you." Still no response. "I know this is about Molly. It must be scary for you to care about someone and to have those warm feelings cause you pain. If you talk about it, maybe I can help you ease your pain." At this, Sherlock froze and for a long moment there was only silence between them, but then the detective lowered his violin and turned to gaze out the window.

"She asked me to give her away." he finally said, a clear note of anguish in his voice. John's eyes went wide. He'd never seen Sherlock this vulnerable before. "There are no other pathologists like her, John."

"I know. You wouldn't like her if she was a common woman, now would you." The corners of the dark haired man's mouth twitched upwards at this before their original position in a frown. He set his violin aside and turned to look at his friend.

"Caring is not an advantage. For that reason, I tried to get her out of my head, to delete her, but I can't. She is too deeply ingrained in my mind. It doesn't make sense. Why does she matter? Why do I care so much?"

"Because you love her, Sherlock. You've never liked seeing her with other men, but now it's really bad because she's about to be off limits to you forever and you're panicking."

"Don't be absurd! I do not _love_ her! She is important to me, yes, but I don't love her! I'm not even capable of that!"

"That's not true and you know it. If it were true, you wouldn't be acting like this."

"Like what?"

"Like a heartbroken man who doesn't know a thing about how to handle it." John snapped back and Sherlock's eyes flashed with anger. He didn't reply for a good long couple of minutes and simply glared at his best friend in an emotionally charged staring contest. The blond was the first to break. "You need to accept what you're feeling and what's happening." he stated calmly.

"Why should I? This isn't what I want. If I had it my way, Molly wouldn't even be dating that imbecile, let alone marrying him and moving away with him to Birmingham! I warned her against him, but did she listen? No! She went right ahead and got herself engaged without any consideration for how it would effect me and my work! It's her fault my mind is tearing itself to pieces!" Sherlock rambled angrily, slamming his fist against the wall and gritting his teeth.

"Woah, woah, calm down, Sherlock. Why don't we sit down and calmly think about this, okay? That's something your fond of, right? Reasoning your way through problems." John soothed and the detective seemed to come to his senses. His anger melted away into resignation as he shuffled over to his favorite armchair and sunk down into it. "I'll make some tea." The doctor went off to the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with two cups of tea, one of which he handed to his best friend.

"Is there any way for me to change her mind?" Sherlock asked, staring into the contents of his cup as if he could see Molly's face in it.

"I don't think so. Love is a powerful thing and she loves Hosmer Angel. It's unlikely that even you could persuade her to alter her course."

"She loves me too."

"Yes, she does, but not the same way as she does her fiancé, at least not anymore. That ship has sailed, I'm afraid." John responded solemnly.

"Perhaps if I agreed to give her away, she would finally accept that she is important to me and would rethink her decision."

"It's not that simple."

"Why?" Sherlock demanded and the doctor let out a long sigh before answering.

"Look, if you have any chance of making her have second thoughts, you need to directly and clearly tell her how you feel about her. Not just that she's important, but that you love her. Tell her the same way you asked her to help you fake your death and I'm sure she'll know you're being honest. Then tell her you'll give her away if that's what she wants because you want her to be happy. You do want her to be happy, right?"

"Of course I do. Isn't that part of caring?"

"Then as soon as you've finished your tea, get cracking."

* * *

It was Molly Hooper's last week in the morgue at St. Bartholomew's Hospital. She hadn't seen much of her favorite detective. In fact, the only time she'd talked to him in the past few days was when she'd gone up to Baker Street the previous evening to ask Sherlock if he'd give her away at her wedding because her dad wasn't around to do it. He hadn't given her an answer yet. She figured it was because he was upset that she was leaving and his morgue access with her. He'd get over it and find someone else eventually, she was sure. Admittedly, she knew she was going to miss him bursting in at her new job in Birmingham. She was going to miss seeing his beautiful face and hearing his lovely voice. She was going to miss watching him be brilliant. These thoughts made her sad, so she reminded herself of her conviction to move on and start a new life with Hosmer, who was sweet and kind and nothing at all like the consulting detective.

At the end of her shift, Molly gathered her things and turned of the light in her office before heading for the door. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Sherlock's voice call to her from the other side of the lab.

"Molly." She whirled around to see him standing exactly where she expected him to be and she was suddenly struck by a feeling of deja vu.

"Oh! Sherlock, what are you doing here? Do you need help with something?"

"I came to...to tell you something." he replied slowly as he approached her. His manner was frightening her as it all too vividly reminded her of the night he asked her to save him.

"You're scaring me, Sherlock. Is everything alright?" For a moment, he seemed to be having some sort of internal struggle, but then he answered with words she never expected to hear.

"I came to tell you that I will give you away because it will make you happy and that is important to me." Sherlock confessed, unable to directly look at her like a shy eight year old. A tearful smile appeared on Molly's face as the meaning of his words sunk in.

"May...may I hug you?"

"Yes, that's fine." he consented before he even realized he'd said it. The pathologist slid her arms around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder. The gesture stirred warm feelings in Sherlock that comforted him and made him feel just a little bit less like the world was ending. He found himself hugging her back. Molly seemed surprised by this, but nevertheless pleased. The moment didn't last long and they separated.

"Thank you, Sherlock. It means a lot to me."

"You're welcome." the man replied before turning and walking out the door. When he got home, he was forced to explain to John that he could not bring himself to tell Molly that he loved her when she was so content with her life and his saying something would mess all of that up.

* * *

The day of the wedding, Sherlock stood with Molly, her hand resting on the crook of his arm, waiting for the music to start. The tie that she'd insisted he wear felt like a noose around his neck and an intense, burning anxiety was slowly and painfully rising from the pit of his stomach with every passing moment. He felt ill. He wanted to sweep the petite woman off her feet and run out of the church with her in his arms, shouting 'you can't have her' at Hosmer Angel as he went. However, he knew that it was a ridiculous notion and he didn't entertain it any further. If he really did that, Molly would surely hate him for it. In the end, she was probably better off becoming Mrs. Angel than she would be if he tried to give her a romantic relationship. He'd hurt her many times over the years and he didn't know anything about affection. He couldn't be the man she wanted and she deserved the best, so Sherlock accepted that Hosmer was the better man here and decided that he would go through with this because it was time for Molly to get the happiness she was owed, even if watching her go was painful.

"Sherlock, are you alright? You look like you're about to be sick." Molly said with a tone of deep concern upon looking up at her friend who had gone even paler that usual.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." he replied tightly and they continued waiting in silence. As time went on, Molly's level of worry grew, both for the man beside her and the lack of music cueing them to come out. They should have been cued ages ago. Where was Hosmer? They could hear the people in the pews growing restless.

Hosmer Angel never showed up and the wedding was cancelled. Molly's fiancé had gone missing on his way to the church. She was distraught and though a part of Sherlock was glad the man was gone, he took her case when she asked him to help her find Mr. Angel.

It was a short lived case, fortunately. It didn't take long to figure out that her fiancé had run off with all of the possessions she'd already had shipped out to Birmingham, which was most of the things she owned. His real name was James Windibank and he was making a career out of asking women to marry and move away with him and was disappearing with their things to make a big profit selling them. They caught him in the act of trying to sell Molly's sofa only a week after he'd disappeared.

Before the police arrived to arrest Windibank, Sherlock got a little carried away in apprehending him, chasing him down an alleyway and pounding the living daylights out of him upon catching him. John and Molly actually had to pull their friend off of him.

"Sherlock! Please stop!" Molly cried, pulling at detective's shoulder.

"He wronged you, Molly! He deserves to be punished!" he growled back as he continued trying to punch an already unconscious James Windibank while fighting off John's attempts to stop him. With the combined effort of Molly and John grabbing their friend's arms, they managed pull Sherlock away from the criminal.

"You've already done enough." the pathologist said after cupping Sherlock's cheek with her free hand and forcing him to look her in the eyes as she spoke. This calmed him down significantly and by the time the police got there, he looked almost bored.

"Took you long enough." he called as DI Lestrade appeared. Paramedics were loading James Windibank into an ambulance which the inspector glanced back towards before addressing Sherlock.

"I had no idea such a small man would be so difficult to knock unconscious. I mean, he'd have to be for you to need to hit him so many times." Lestrade commented, his eyes briefly flicking between Sherlock and Molly.

"Yes. He definitely needed to be hit that many times." the detective deadpanned. The Yarder seemed satisfied and nodded before turning back to talk to his people.

"Thank you, Sherlock. For everything. I've been so stupid. I should have listened to you when you told me to stop dating. No matter what, I always seem to fall for criminals who don't actually love me." _At least this time he wasn't after you..._she added silently, wiping a rogue tear from her eye and letting out a laugh of despair.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. You don't always fall for men who don't actually love you." Sherlock told Molly as they started walking in the direction of the main road, John lagging behind because he was on the phone with his wife.

"Really? Name one."

"Me." This had Molly gaping in shock while Sherlock smirked.

"You...you...?"

"Why do you think your happiness is so important to me?" the man asked as he flagged down a cab. He opened the door for her and climbed in after her, telling John to get the next cab as he went.

"W-Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because feelings are sneaky bastards that don't let me know they're there until there is a crisis situation and as I'm sure you are aware, I don't know how to deal with that." They both started laughing at this after a small pause and Molly found that she was glad that she hadn't gotten married. That would have meant never hearing that rich, warm sound come from Sherlock again.

"I suppose what happened with Hosmer is God's way of telling me that I'm not allowed to love any man but you." Molly mused after their mirth had faded. The atmosphere in the cab suddenly became very serious as Sherlock turned to look at her.

"Will you teach me how to handle feelings?" he asked.

"Are you asking me to be in a relationship with you?"

"Yes."

"May I kiss you?"

"Yes." Grinning at this, Molly took Sherlock's face in both her hands and pressed her lips to his. It felt like the most right thing in world and he wondered why he had denied himself this for so long.

**A/N: There you have it. I'm not overly confident that I did this very well. What do you think? Any and all feedback is much appreciated. ~T.Z.**


End file.
